


carbonation

by deniigiq



Series: finding the lost and losing the found [3]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Gen, Humor, M/M, Mentors, Planet Dagobah (Star Wars), Politics, Team Dynamics, but still, swamps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28680279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deniigiq/pseuds/deniigiq
Summary: Luke said goodbye to the other children and his staff with Grogu practically writhing in his arms, so excited he was to get off this planet.Luke felt that. But he also felt the indomitable urge to go and put Grogu on Yoda’s memorial altar to see what would happen. Din didn’t need to know about that leg of this adventure. He had plenty to be unsatisfied with as it was. For starters, the fact that Luke refused to take him to Dagobah in the Rust Bucket.That was causing what other people might have called ‘tension’ between Luke and Din, but what, to Luke, was better described as a ‘temper tantrum.’(Luke takes Grogu and Din to Dagobah in their quest to lose the Darksaber.)
Relationships: Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda, Din Djarin & Grogu | Baby Yoda & Luke Skywalker, Din Djarin & Luke Skywalker, Din Djarin/Luke Skywalker, I've decided we're going to lean awkwardly on, and then sometimes you need Yoda and Grogu in the same goddamn place alright, sometimes you need love
Series: finding the lost and losing the found [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2090520
Comments: 30
Kudos: 827





	carbonation

**Author's Note:**

> still don't know jack about StarWars. Literally only enough to write this series. Thank you for your continued indulgence.

Din didn’t explicitly _say_ he slept with the Darksaber in his helmet, but Luke knew he did. Grogu had given him an impression of a bowl of soup with the thing’s hilt sticking out of it, so that was as good as confirmation.

He brought it up the next time Din was in the area. It was either that or acknowledge that the man was lugging around the carcass of a striped and clawed creature twice his size on his shoulders.

Din said, unprompted, that the Whatever-it-was was part of a ceremonial act that he was doing in order to ingratiate himself to a group of itinerant scavengers on a blue planet.

Luke elected not to hear that. The saber-soup was a far safer topic of conversation.

“Where else am I supposed to put it?” Din asked stiffly after a good fifteen minutes of Luke picking at him.

“Deep space,” Luke offered.

“Someone who doesn’t deserve it could get ahold of it,” Din said.

“I know a fantastic swamp, then,” Luke said. “Lost a boot in it. I’ll never forget.”

Over the last few weeks, Luke had learned that Din’s helmet had very distinct emotions. The one it was currently locked on was a mix of disgust and emptiness.

“Buy a new boot,” Din said.

“I was poor,” Luke said. “Not all of us are walking treasuries.”

The helmet decided that it was offended now.

“I’m not going to a swamp,” Din said.

Luke couldn’t help himself.

“Aw, what’s the matter, is the desert-child scared of a little water?” he teased.

The helmet flickered through the throws of homicidal thoughts and came out on the other side determined not to be antagonized.

“I fear no water,” Din said.

Luke beamed.

“You know who probably _loves_ water?” he asked.

Din cocked his head in sudden interest.

“Grogu,” Luke said.

Luke said goodbye to the other children and his staff with Grogu practically writhing in his arms, so excited he was to get off this planet.

Luke felt that. But he also felt the indomitable urge to go and put Grogu on Yoda’s memorial altar to see what would happen. Din didn’t need to know about that leg of this adventure. He had plenty to be unsatisfied with as it was. For starters, the fact that Luke refused to take him to Dagobah in the Rust Bucket.

That was causing what other people might have called ‘tension’ between Luke and Din, but what, to Luke, was better described as a ‘temper tantrum.’

Din, bless him, had separation anxiety when it came to the Rust Bucket. It was like he thought that leaving it at its current location was akin to kissing it a forever-type of goodbye. And so he’d planted his heels and refused to be moved until Luke had mused (strategically) about Dagobah’s virulent mold colonies.

Oh, what mold, he’d lamented. It got into every crevice of every machine and every piece of cloth. It was far easier to take only what you needed and really, only that which you didn’t value, to that swamp planet—you know, since you’d be burning it later to banish the _smell_.

Din was so _easy_. He’d been rattling in his helmet for days, trying to work through the five stages of grief, so that he could set foot on Luke’s ship without melting.

Grogu objected to this behavior on the grounds of Luke ‘being a bully,’ which Luke countered by asking him who the Jedi Master was.

That’s right, he was. And look at this: Mandalorian? In the ship. Look, Grogu. Look, Yoda. Look, Ben.

Jedi. _Master_. Luke was the real deal.

He stepped on board and set Grogu down before he dropped the kid. It felt good. It felt right.

“Are you ready?” he called back into the bowels of the ship, where Mando was probably digging into a pile of repair parts for warmth and security.

He got no answer. That was fine, though, he didn’t need one.

It was a ways to Dagobah. Around hour two, Luke felt comfortable enough to shift the controls into autopilot. Around hour 2.5, he got bored enough that he headed out of the cockpit to try to locate his crew.

He found one of them.

“Where is your father?” he asked Grogu, crouched down to his level.

Grogu turned back his way with big, deep, glossy eyes. His little claws scraped lightly against the doorframe. Luke waited.

Grogu made a soft grunt and offered only a fuzzy impression of Din’s Mudhorn insignia.

“Yes,” Luke said. “Where is he?”

Grogu misunderstood. He shoved a hand under his collar and rifled around until he found that silver pendant thing from a while back. He offered it up to Luke.

It looked like beskar. Luke didn’t know if he was supposed to handle it.

“I think that’s yours,” he said. “Where is Din Djarin?”

Those ears perked up and then dropped. Luke felt a light flicker on in his brain.

“Do people really not call him that?” he asked. “Do you like his name?”

Grogu clung to the doorframe. His ears lifted a little bit in a plea.

“Din Djarin,” Luke said again.

Grogu cooed.

“It’s alright,” Luke said. “I’m sure it’s meaningful in his mother tongue. Not as good as Sky—”

“You talk so much.”

Luke rocketed up out of his squat and cleared his throat. He smoothed down his trousers.

“Fancy meeting you here,” he said.

Din’s helmet was irritated.

“I can’t go anywhere else,” he said.

Hm. Well, with those limitations, he definitely had time to cultivate a sense of humor at least, no?

“Do you think you’re funny?” Din asked.

“Yes,” Luke said.

“You’re not funny,” Din said. “Come here, kid. You don’t want to catch whatever he’s packin’.”

Grogu cooed and turned to hold the silver pendant towards Din’s glove. Din recognized it immediately. He stooped and gathered Grogu up into his arms and against his shoulder.

“No, that’s yours now,” he said. He took the thing out of Grogu’s hand and tucked it back under his collar.

“We’re a few hours out still,” Luke said.

Din’s attention came back to him.

“I see,” he said. “If that’s the case, I’m going to sleep.”

Great idea.

There was a long pause. Then Din turned around and Luke realized that he had not a single idea where the bunks were.

He let Din into the sleeping quarters and closed the door behind him. He was fairly certain that even the strictest of Mandalorians slept without their helmets and he’d already done enough damage on that side of things.

“I guess it’s just you and me, pal,” he told Grogu outside the door.

Grogu made a sad sound.

“Psh, as if,” Luke said. “We’re not at school anymore. No rules. Come on, do you remember R2?”

Dagobah smelled exactly as Luke remembered and perhaps even better since the first thing Din did upon setting foot off-ship was drop into a pool of scum-covered water.

AHAHAHAHA.

Beautiful. Luke wiped tears from his eyes, only to be slapped with a wet curtain of algae-covered lichen.

It got in. His _mouth_.

Fucking horrible. He shoved Din back in the second he got purchase on land.

Similar skirmishes appeared on every fifty feet or so until Din had enough of him and physically picked Luke up and flung him off the edge of one of the half-submerged tree stumps on the way to Yoda’s memorial altar.

The shame was suffocating.

Luke had had plenty of time to break out of Din’s hold with the Force. Yoda would be mortified.

“I’m sorry, Master,” Luke pleaded as Din stomped ahead with Grogu stuffed securely in his elbow.

A little tinge of something answered him. Luke sighed.

“I’ll do better,” he said.

A familiar staff definitely tripped him when he went to go catch up with the others.

He found Grogu ahead, but no Din.

“Did he fall in again?” Luke asked his student.

Grogu made a frustrated noise at the water. Luke peeked over him and stared into it. It was green, but mostly clear. There were little fish swimming around in it and tiny two-leafed plants crowding together along the surface in parts.

“Looks fine to me,” he said.

Grogu’s head came up and he stared into Luke’s eyes like he’d just offered him a diamond.

Huh.

Well, what could it hurt? This was a Yoda-environment after all. He wouldn’t let a youngling drown—and especially not one of his own species, right?

Right.

“You want to catch one?” Luke asked.

Grogu’s ears shot up. He nodded hurriedly.

“Alright, then, let’s see those toes,” Luke said, squatting down.

Notes on Student Grogu: not much of a swimmer, it turned out.

Wherever Din was, it was a good thing he was out of sight when Luke let go of Grogu’s hands in the water and—er. _Eventually_ snatched him back out.

It was fine. Everyone was fine. No one was traumatized. Not when there were fish snacks to have.

“Let’s not share this adventure with Dad, okay?” Luke said, scraping enough algae off the kid to get his clothes back on him.

Grogu made grabby hands for the water and whined.

Din was going to notice his wet ears.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

An extra scrubbing made the kid look good as new. The second Luke set him down, however, he went toddling for the edge of the log. Luke corrected his path. Grogu whipped around to him with an expression like Luke had slapped him.

“Shhhh,” Luke hushed holding a finger in front of his lips. “Secrets. We have secrets, remember?”

Those ears came back up. Grogu found one of his own fingers and slowly moved it in front of his face.

“Ah,” he said.

“Shhhh,” Luke repeated.

“Ashhhhhh.”

“Good job. Let’s find Din Djarin.”

Grogu cooed and toddled ahead on the right path this time.

Din was up by Yoda’s altar outside of his former, lumpy home. He appeared to be squinting at the stone that Luke had placed there for the old Master. He tapped at it and looked up when Grogu shrieked for his attention.

He let the kid come for and stand on the toes of his boots.

“We can leave the saber here?” Din asked as Luke approached.

Mm. Not exactly.

“This is where my late Master rests,” Luke said.

Din froze in poking at the stone and took a measured step away.

“I see,” he said.

“He has much wisdom, if you can tolerate him,” Luke explained. “I’ve brought you here with me to seek his thoughts on where would be a suitable place for the saber.”

There was a long silence marked by the gurgling of the swamp.

“I thought you said he’s dead,” Din said.

“He is,” Luke said.

Din’s helmet decided that it was going to look sad and confused.

“He’s dead, but he lives on in the Force,” Luke explained out of pity. “And if he so chooses, he can manifest a phantom form, which he may use to speak with others.”

He got the same expression from Grogu as he did Din.

“He’s a ghost,” Luke deadpanned.

“We came to this place for a _ghost_?” Din asked.

“Yes.”

“Unbelievable. Come on, kid. Back, back, back. We’re going back.”

Wow. So rude. So incredibly—

Din staggered mid-step and fell flat on his visor into the mud. Luke’s eyebrows shot up. Grogu turned around belatedly and came over to pat at Din’s helmet. He was too slow; the bucket shot up in fury.

Din stood up abruptly. He swept the kid up without a word and started again on the path back across the logs to the ship. He got three paces this time, and miraculously, when he went down, Grogu landed safely out of the way of his falling armor.

Luke felt a grin threatening the corner of his lips.

Din made a low grunt of frustration that conveyed, for Din at least, the burning hatred of a thousand red giants.

He pushed himself up.

“Master,” Luke said, doing a little bow, “Would you mind showing yourself to my friends before you antagonize them any more?”

Din suspiciously sat up on his heels. His helmet swept the area in front of him methodically, scanning for heat and life.

He jolted when a loud klang rang out and his hands flew up to his helmet.

“A Mandalorian to my home you bring.”

Oh, how Luke had missed that thick, gravely voice.

“So rude,” Yoda noted.

Grogu’s ears seemed to expand wider than they ever had been. He started looking around frantically.

“Oooh. And a youngling,” Yoda’s voice noted.

Luke felt himself soften as the old man’s form started to appear slowly, like a hologram, behind the child. Grogu jumped and turned around just as Yoda’s face materialized. He stared up at him in awe.

“He is one of your species,” Luke said. “I’ve not encountered another. The Mandalorian brought him to me to learn the way of the Force.”

It was like Yoda wasn’t hearing him, though. He was only interested in inspecting the child. And Grogu, for his part, had suddenly become very chatty. He squeaked and grunted and whined more than Luke had ever heard him do at once.

Yoda appeared to understand him—like, really, _really_ understand him. He even made a few low grunts of his own back.

At those, Din shot up to his feet.

“You’re like him,” he said in awe.

Yoda paused, slowly looked up to Din’s helmet, then to Luke’s face. Luke did not laugh.

“He didn’t know who Leia was either,” he offered.

Yoda’s eyes widened and then narrowed again mischievously. He leaned down again and grunted at the child. Grogu went still for a few moments, then exploded into a series of new sounds. Luke caught himself surprised and flicked his eyes over to find Din’s helmet in a state of shock.

“He talks to you,” Din said softly.

Yoda chuckled at whatever it was that Grogu was trying to convey with his jerky hand gestures back towards Din.

“A great warrior you are, Mando,” Yoda said, straightening up and resting his hands on his Force-made staff.

Din said nothing.

“Mando?” Yoda repeated.

He waited. Luke frowned. He cleared his throat. Still nothing. Yoda gave him a Strong Eye. Luke gave him a single finger, pleading for patience.

“Din,” he said.

The man’s name seemed to startle him out of whatever haze he was in.

“I’m--yes. I’m a Mandalorian,” Din said.

Luke fought the urge to smother a cackle in his cloak. Yoda blinked up at Din like he’d just torn up a mouthful of swamp plants and started chewing them.

“Stupid, you are,” he decided.

Din stiffened in offense. Grogu intervened by lifting grabby hands for Yoda’s own again and following them up with more chirps and squeaks. Yoda nodded down at him, then returned to Luke.

“A dangerous force to this place, you have brought,” he said.

“Yes. The Darksaber,” Luke said.

Yoda straightened up.

“The Mand’alor, you are, Din Djarin,” he said.

Finally, Din’s brain kicked back into overdrive.

“I’m not,” he said immediately. “It was a mistake, Mister—”

“Master,” Luke corrected.

“Yoda,” Yoda finished for him. “No mistakes with the saber there are, Din Djarin.”

Luke swore Din winced. But then, to his surprise, Din dropped to a knee so that he was closer to Yoda’s height. He reached down and pulled the saber out of its sheath at his side. He held it out with both hands.

“There is always room for mistakes, Master,” Din said with the utmost respect. “I took this from a man without understanding the extent of its value. I am not worthy of the responsibility it asks of me, and it is not my place to lead the people who depend on guidance from its holder.”

Yoda remained quiet, considering Din and the saber.

“A Child of the Watch, you are,” he said. “The strictest Creed of all Mandalorians.”

Din’s helmet lifted ever so slightly and then dropped again.

“I have never set foot on Mandalore,” he admitted. “And I cannot abide by the culture of the majority of those who have fled from that place.”

A lesser man would have seized the chance the saber offered to spread their more orthodox creed. Luke knew this and he knew that Yoda would understand the same from the way that Din knelt before him.

“This child, you have saved,” Yoda noted in Grogu’s direction. “His father, he calls you.”

Din’s helmet bowed even lower.

“It is the greatest honor,” he said.

Grogu cooed at him and turned beseeching eyes onto Yoda. He chirped once. Yoda dropped his chin and closed his eyes.

“Speak with Luke, I must,” he decided.

They left Din with Grogu and took a walk through the swamp. It would have been nostalgic if Yoda didn’t seem so agitated.

“An anomaly, this Mandalorian is,” Yoda mused. “Sought out the Jedi, he has.”

“He’s unusual,” Luke agreed. “He fought alongside Ahsoka Tano to return Grogu to us for training and protection.”

“Alongside?” Yoda repeated.

“Yes, Master,” Luke hummed. “Alongside. But more troubling—to me anyways, was his lack of knowledge of the Jedi at all. Ahsoka tells me that he seems to have little sense of the conventions of identifying us—he didn’t know _me_ , Yoda. He didn’t even remember my name until we had been in communication for months. He took aim at Leia’s ship, under the impression that she wished harm upon the younglings.”

Yoda digested that with several ambling steps, then he stopped and Luke stopped beside him to look out into the mist that settled over the water before them. A frog croaked. A fish splashed lightly in the water.

“Luke,” Yoda said at length, “Important to keep this Mandalorian close, it may be.”

Wh—what?

“Many years since I last saw another of my species, it has been. And of kindness and warmth towards the warrior, he speaks. Protection only. Respect and patience. That a Mandalorian of such skill is friendly towards the Jedi, it is not often.”

“You want me to form an alliance with him?” Luke asked. “An official one?”

“Mand’alor, he is. Whether or not he likes,” Yoda said. “No mistakes has the saber made.”

…so they couldn’t just lose the thing, huh?

Yoda gave him a dirty look.

“The saber distresses him,” Luke said. “He doesn’t want to be chosen, Yoda.”

“Of all people, Luke, who understands that best, _you_ it is. ” Yoda said.

Well, that wasn’t a whole lie.

“In battle, earned must the saber be,” Yoda said. “To help the Mandalorian in this way that you wish, he must be defeated.”

“By me,” Luke said.

“By you,” Yoda said. “But then the Mand’alor would _you_ be. And again would civil war rise. Never can a Jedi be accepted as the leader of Mandalore.”

Cor _rect_. Hm.

“So an alliance,” Luke said.

“An alliance between Mand’alor Din Djarin and Jedi Master Luke Skywalker,” Yoda said. “Peace, this could bring. Strength if needed it is. The Mandalorian, you and the Force, he respects.”

Wait, wait. Hold on. Go back.

Din _respected_ Luke?

“His life, the child has saved,” Yoda said slowly. “Allegiance to the clan, he has pledged. A clan of two, they are, and no greater protection for one of my kind, could I ask.”

A clan of two. The Mudhorn. That pendant.

“What would it take for me to form an alliance?” Luke asked. “What am I supposed to do, marry him?”

Yoda paused. Luke felt every nerve in his body jolt with electricity.

“I’m not marrying a Mandalorian,” he said immediately.

“Joining the clan, a bad idea it is not,” Yoda said solemnly. “But other ways, there are. You must earn his trust. Demonstrate your dedication to that which he pledges allegiance, another option can be. Regardless, lost, the saber cannot be. And if or when lost it is, having the former Mand’alor in your alliance can of assistance still be.”

“I don’t want to just use him for protection,” Luke said. “I can protect the younglings.”

“All of them?”

Luke’s breath vanished.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked urgently.

Yoda dipped his head.

“Peace, the Jedi never will know,” he said. “Grows weaker every day, the Force does.”

No. No, it didn’t. It was fine. Luke would know.

What did the Force know about the children? What did it know?

Who would turn on them this time?

“Luke, so serious you have become,” Yoda said.

“I will form an alliance with the Mandalorian,” Luke said.

He felt numb. Not even cold. Temperature meant nothing to the dread settling in the bottom of his heart.

“Good, good,” Yoda said. “Protect the children, you must. And the child.”

Who would turn on them?

Who?

“How will the others view me if I join a Mandalorian clan?” Luke asked lowly.

Yoda paused and frowned.

“Consider it, most have not,” he said. “But lead by example, you have always done.”

Why did it always have to be Luke, though?

“Tired, I am.”

“Thank you for your time, Master.”

“Relieved to meet another of my species, I am also.”

The words let heat start to seep back into Luke’s chest.

“He’s nearly as stubborn as you are,” he said. “Good bye, Master. Until next time.”

Din and Grogu were waiting back by Yoda’s altar. It was getting dark. Grogu had curled up in the crook of Din’s arm.

Din stood when Luke approached.

“You master left you?” he asked.

“He tells me it isn’t wise to try to lose the Darksaber,” Luke said. “I explained to him your plight, but he doesn’t think that running from the saber will solve your problems. I’m sorry, Din.”

He watched the helmet bow and felt sick.

“I wish I could do more,” he said.

“No,” Din said. “He’s right. Thank you. For asking on my behalf. We can go back now. I’ll—I’ll figure something out.”

Right. Of course.

They left Dagobah.

Din left them again at the school. He told Grogu not to worry and that he’d see him in a few weeks, but probably not at the next meeting.

He told him to study hard. Luke found himself chewing his lip.

“Take care, Din Djarin,” he said before the ship headed off.

He got a long look and then single nod.

**Author's Note:**

> Anyways so I lied like a dog. this is gonna be more than a trilogy. I'm not paid enough to regulate myself like this.
> 
> The next chapter is going to be from Han Solo's perspective, so prepare yourself.


End file.
